


Never felt so high

by Doodles_and_stuff



Category: Rise (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe – Band, But I'll add the tags as they appear, Maashous will be drums, Simon can play the piano on good days, There will be more characters, bassist Jeremy, because i love band aus, guitarist Jolene, sue me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-03 21:31:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14578086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doodles_and_stuff/pseuds/Doodles_and_stuff
Summary: Imma write this later cause I gotta sleep, but it is a BAND AU and my babies are precious.





	1. CHAPTER ONE

**Author's Note:**

> Heeey! Hope you enjoy reading this!! I apologize for not knowing how American High Schools work lol
> 
> [Basically, what if Spring Awakening hadn’t happened and Lilette sucked at Math and Simon couldn’t stop thinking about the kid in his class and the boy who sang alone after school and Jolene was awesome].
> 
> I’ve no idea how play rehearsals work in high schools, so if I’ve made a terrible mistake, please tell me
> 
> [I’m including the link to the performances I based myself on ON THE END NOTES. I 100% recommend you check them out!]

If anybody asked, Simon Saunders favorite time of the day was 6:45pm.

(Ok, in all honesty, if anybody asked, Simon would answer with something truly generic, such as ‘lunch time’, because the truth made him sound nothing short of creepy). 

What was so special about 6:45pm was that by that time, most after-school clubs were over and music classroom B was vacated. Which meant a certain someone got to use the classroom for his own, personal, vocal practice.

Now, here is were things get slightly complicated.

It wasn’t Simon.

No, while he _did_ love singing, he got his fair share of practice in theater rehearsals. The kid who came in at 6:45 to use the music classroom was somebody else. Someone Simon didn’t know by name, but who he had become obsessed over to the point of even dreaming about him.

It all started a couple of months back, when, one day, theater practice had ran late and he’d been asked by Ms. Wolfe to go find the school’s band director. The band’s practice room (music classroom A) was right down the hall of music classroom B –and much bigger too–. As Simon approached room A, the band just so happened to pause in the middle of a song, letting the stranger’s voice ring throughout the hallway undiluted. And it was that moment in which Simon felt his heart come to a complete stop.

The voice was beautiful. Flawlessly smooth. It was soft and control, but still it had such depth… And Simon was gone.

He wouldn’t call it being in love, per se. It was more of a deep admiration, bordering on ‘obsession’, that kept him up at night, trying to imagine what the stranger with the mesmerizing voice looked like. 

Oh, because Simon had never seen his face. He’d never had the courage to walk up to that door and knock. He didn’t have an excuse to be there and, to a certain extent, he was afraid of who he might find.

So, instead, he’d taken to standing right outside the door at 6:45pm every day he could.

And this Monday was to be no different.

“What if you tried tutoring me on Math this afternoon?”

It was lunchtime and Simon had been sitting by himself, contemplating the ridiculous reality that was his life, when his best friend, Lilette, dropped her tray next to his unceremoniously and popped the question.

“Sorry, what?” He said, looking up from his plate.

“I asked if you’d want to tutor me on Math this afternoon,” she said, frowning as she failed to twist the cap off her bottle of water. Simon reached over and took the bottle from her, prying the cap off with ease and handing it back to her.

“You’d die without me,” he stated.

“I’m serious,” she insisted. “I need someone to help me out today. We’ve got a test tomorrow and I can’t keep failing.”

“Lilette, you know I would do anything for you, but I’ve got theater rehearsals today until 6:30pm. I don’t see how I could make it to your place before you had to leave for your shift at work.”

“ARGH,” she whined dramatically. “I’ve lost my best friend to the corniest show known to mankind!”

“Oh, come on, _Grease_ is great,” Simon said, trying not to laugh as Lilette nearly tips over her tray by resting her elbow in its edge. Grumpy, the girl stuckher tongue out to her friend and proceeded to begin eating her lunch.

“Merph, fugh you” she said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

“Swallow, you barbarian,” he said, without much emotion.

“Fine, but could you at least ask one of your classmates to help me? I don’t know anybody in AP Math, apart from you,” she said. “Someone with patience and a high tolerance for idiots.”

“Lilette, you know you are no idiot. You’re literally better than me in most subjects _but_ Math,” Simon said, mock glaring at his friend. “But yeah, sure. I can look for someone… oh! Maybe Jeremy will want to help. I’ve got Math next so I can ask him then.”

“Jeremy?” Lilette’s plastic spoon froze halfway to her mouth. “Who’s Jeremy?”

“He sits next to me in Math,” Simon shrugged. “He’s really nice and he’s always willing to help me out whenever I get stuck on a problem.”

_And he’s really funny and smart. And he has the cutest laugh. And I’m convinced his blue eyes are imposible to look away from._

“He sounds cool,” she said.

“He’s alright,” Simon mumbled, turning back to his lunch.

Simon had thought about it before and he’d come to a conclusion: he really needed to get himself a proper girlfriend and more male friends. It was the only possible explanation. He knew that what he felt for Jeremy wasn’t normal and he guessed the confusion came from spending practically every single waking hour surrounded by girls he didn’t look at in a romantic or sexual way. Truth was, most of his friends (*cough* all of his friends) were girls and he’d rather eat a sock than date any of them. Knowing this, he wasn’t too worried about the confused thoughts inside his head; he knew they were only temporary and tried not to pay them much attention (if any at all).

Simon and Lilette spent the rest of the meal talking about everything and anything. About Robbie Thorne’s obvious crush on Lilette, about Simon’s parents opinion on him playing Danny Zuko, about the upcoming Halloween parties and their lack of costume ideas… 

Once the bell rang, signaling lunch to be over, Simon dropped off his tray and began to make his way to Math class.

 

As he arrived at room 203, he spotted a blonde boy walking towards him, eyes locked onto his phone screen and a small frown creasing his forehead.

“Jeremy!” Simon called out.

The blonde boy looked up from his phone, his eyes meeting Simon’s, and grinned (Simon’s heart _obviously_ not skipping a beat, no sir). 

“Hey, Simon,” he greeted, coming to stand right in front of him. He looked tired, with dark shadows under his eyes and his hair sticking up funny, but Simon decided not to comment on that.

“Hey, uh, actually, I wanted to ask a favor,” Simon said, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed by what he was going to ask of the boy. “I was wondering, are you busy this afternoon?”

“No, I’m free…why?” The boy asked, smiling slightly.

“See, I’ve got this friend, Lilette,” Simon began to explain hurriedly, feeling himself stumble over his word. “She’s really not great at Math, like really, and she was asking me to tutor her today because she has a test tomorrow, but I’ve got theater rehearsals and I won’t be able to make it. So I was wondering if maybe you’d be willing to do it?”

A shadow passed through Jeremy’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a bright smile.

“Sure, I can help her out. Can you give me her number?”

 

[i’m the queen of awkward time skips, don’t @ me]

 

Later that day, Simon found himself panting, right outside the door to music classroom B. The second Theater rehearsals had ended, he’d grabbed his bag, not even bothering to change, and ran like crazy all the way to the music classroom. 

… Let’s just say there is a reason why he’s not part of the track team.

After about a minute, once he felt his heartbeat start to slow down to a normal rhythm, Simon began to pay close attention to the sounds from inside the classroom. He could hear someone moving around, the sound of a zipper, rustling of sheets, and, finally, the first notes to a song coming from the speakers set.

For a couple of seconds, Simon found himself stumped trying to figure out which song this person was about to sing. It wasn’t until the piano kicked in that he recognized it.

_Last Week’s Alcohol_

Of course he knew this song, he is a theater nerd, for goodness sake. But how on earth did this kid know Kerrigan-Lowdermilk’s work?

As the song approached the first verse, Simon held his breath. And in came the voice.

 

_“Happy drunk,_

_Grinding to a German techno beat._

_Shots all around._

_I'm drafting you a text._

_I'm typing sorry._

_I'm sleepy._

_Another night._

_Sadface ox.”_

 

Yes, Simon did know the song, but it was so much more different when this guy sang it. It felt as if he was telling a story, a real story, and Simon was enthralled.

 

_“She makes a pass._

_Screw the phone._

_Screw you and all your stupid rules._

_Are you alone?_

_Are you dancing by yourself?_

_Cuz I'm out here._

_Alive here._

_We're dancing here._

_Chugging from the bottom shelf.”_

 

Simon couldn’t move. It was as if, by the second, this guy filled his voice with more and more feeling. 

 

_“This is how it feels to fall in love._

_This is how it feels to fall._

_The weakness, the sadness,_

_The sirens, the madness._

_The pounding in your chest,_

_Like you're racing the streets in an ambulance.”_

 

It was honest and open and it took everything in Simon’s power not to throw open the door, if only to make him stop. To stop his heart from feeling this way.

 

_“I'm watching you._

_I'm watching me._

_I'm watching us fall._

_Fall.”_

 

For a moment Simon didn’t dare to breathe. He couldn’t move a muscle, his eyes fixed on the door, hand inches away from its handle.

Then that moment was broken.

“Simon? What are you doing here?”


	2. CHAPTER TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so new songs for the cast album are out and THIS KIDS ARE CRAZY TALENTED WOW  
> anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! love you all

“Simon? What are you doing here?”

Simon Saunders was not a stalker. Simon Saunders was not creepy. But he’d just been caught eavesdropping on someone’s singing practice.

Retracting his hand away from the door handle as quickly as if he’d been burned, Simon whirled around to come face-to-face with none other than Jolene Brooks.

“Oh, hey Jolene,” Simon said, trying for a friendly smile but most likely ending up with a grimace. “I was… I was just passing by and… yeah, you know…”

“Ok, I don’t have time for this,” she sighed in exasperation. “Out of the way, Simon. I gotta talk to this man.”

Simon scurried away from the door, giving Jolene enough space to throw it open.

Too late did he realize his mistake.

Standing in the middle of the room, right next to the speakers, scribbling something onto what appeared to be sheet music, was none other than Jeremy Travers.

“Jeremy, we’ve got to talk,” she announced, storming into the room.

With a start, Jeremy hurried to pause the song and turned back to face the two intruders.

“Hey Jolene. Glad you’re here. I stayed up last night to finish the bass arrangement for…” his voice trailed off, seeming slightly confused. “Simon? What are you doing here?”

Simon had yet to find the strength to move his feet from the spot they appeared to be rooted in right outside the door.

“I was…uh…” Simon stuttered. 

“Unimportant,” Jolene interrupted. “Jeremy, we’ve got a problem.”

“What’s that?” Jeremy asked, tearing his eyes away from Simon.

“Beannie quit on us,” she said. She placed her hands on her hips and sighed angrily. “We are now down one man and the competition is in _exactly_ 3 weeks.”

“Wait, Beannie _quit_?!” Jeremy asked, astonished. “Why would she quit? She was always excited about playing at rehearsals!”

“Rehearsals?” Simon asked.

“Well, apparently her grades dropped,” Jolene proceeded, ignoring Simon as she rolled her eyes. “Her parents are forcing her to quit the band so that she can focus on her studies. Which, if you ask me, won’t do her any good.”

“I mean, school is important…” Jeremy mumbled.

“You can’t have your entire life revolving around school, that’s not living,” Jolene said. “You need time to pursue your passions. Follow your dreams, Jeremy!”

“I don’t think the band was her ‘passion’, exactly,” Jeremy said nonchalantly. “I mean, she liked hanging out with everyone and playing was always fun, but she wasn’t as into this whole thing as you are.”

_Band?_

“Regardless,” Jolene continued. “We need to find somebody to replace her. Fast. Do you have any ideas?”

“Hmm…” Jeremy hummed in return. 

Making the most of the pause in their conversation, Simon readjusted the grip on his backpack and finally stepped into the room. Clearing his throat, he asked: “So, you guys have a band?”

_Are you the lead singer? You’ve got an amazing voice._

“Yeah,” Jeremy answered, with a small smile. “We’ve never actually played in front of anyone, but we practice together twice per week.”

“Sorry Simon, but the main vocal spot is pretty taken,” Jolene said, nodding her head towards the blonde boy.

“Oh,” Simon said. “Yeah, no, thats not why I asked…”

“But if you know of anyone who is half decent on the keyboard, we could really use someone right now,” she said, chuckling nervously. 

_Keyboard_.

“See, you know Beannie? She’s in our year. Anyway, she was our keyboardist, but… well, you heard the story. Shame, really, cause she was very…”

“I could do it,” Simon interrupted.

_Wait, wait…_

“You can play?” Jolene asked, surprised.

“Yes,” Simon said.

_Wait, no…_

“I can play keyboard,” he said, nodding his head vigorously.

_Or you could…when you were 10 years old!_

“Yes, yes I can.”

“Oh.” Jeremy’s wide-eyed stare was broken by an excited smile. “That’s great, Simon! That’s so great!”

Jolene grinned and nodded her head.

“It’s perfect! You’d be saving our lives, Simon,” she added, a relieved laugh escaping her lips.

“Yeah..” Simon laughed nervously.

“Cool! Perfect! So that problem’s solved,” Jolene clapped her hands. Then turning to address Simon directly, she said: “Don’t worry about rehearsals’ schedule. Both Maashous and I are in this band, so they will never overlap with Theater rehearsals. Fantastic. I’ll add you to the group chat.”

“Uh huh,” Simon said, feeling slightly lightheaded.

“Cool, then I’m gonna go,” Jolene said, waving halfheartedly at the boys before walking cheerfully out the door. “Bye!”

Simon forced himself to follow the girl with his eyes as she walked away; anything to avoid having to address the other boy directly, now that they were left alone.

_It’s not safe yet. I haven’t found the right girl to date and, until I do, looking directly at Jeremy’s face will just make me even more confused._

“I didn’t know you could play,” said Jeremy, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” Simon chuckled, keeping his eyes on the floor or on the window behind him. “I mean, I _try_.”

“I’m sure you’re fantastic,” Jeremy said cheerfully. Losing control of his eyes for a second, Simon glanced at Jeremy’s face; he looked proud, smiling bright, his grey eyes crinkling. He looked proud of _him_. Simon felt an odd pressure inside his chest and had to fight the urge to gasp.

“Yeah…uh…” Simon cleared his throat. “What time is it? I think I have to go now.” His eyes remained trained on the other boy’s face and he couldn’t, for the life of him, look away.

He couldn’t stay there any longer. He had to get away from him.

“It is…” Jeremy checked his phone. “Exactly 7:04pm.”

“Oh,” Simon said, shaking his head as if to clear up his thoughts. “I have to go. Home. My parents will worry.”

“Alright,” Jeremy said with a nod, that relaxed smile of his never leaving his face. “See you tomorrow, then? Heard there’d be a pop quiz in Lit, so study some tonight.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” Simon agreed, glancing at the boy, only for a second, to shoot him a crooked smile. “Thanks, Jeremy.”

 

Simon could have sworn he felt a pair of smiling grey eyes following him all the way to his car.

 

_Well, shit._ He thought

“Well shit,” he said out loud, for emphasis.

Simon sat inside his car, parked outside of his house, when complete realization of what he’d just done finally hit him.

_What were you thinking Saunders?! You haven’t touched a piano in ages!_

He pulled out his phone, searching for Lilette’s contact name with trembling fingers, and clicked “CALL”.

He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel anxiously as the phone rang once, twice…

“Please leave a message after the…”

“Shit,” Simon muttered. He waited a second for the _beep_ before saying: “Lilette! I think I made a mistake. No, I _did_ make a mistake, that is a fact, and now I am in deep trouble and… I just… I joined a band. As a keyboardist. Lilette… I haven’t played in _ages,_ I don’t think… this was a terrible idea. Call me back please.”

With a sigh, Simon hung up. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he violently fought to unbuckle his seatbelt and then stumbled out of the car. He had to hurry up to his room to dig up good old _Hanon._

_Damn Jeremy and his stupidly hypnotizing self._

 

 

The next morning, Simon looked like crap. Complete and utter crap. He also felt like crap. And he really felt like yelling ‘crap’ or any other similarly satisfying vulgarity, just to piss off any passerby. Or to scare some birds.

He was in a crappy mood.

“Morning, Simon!” Lilette called cheerfully, jogging to catch up to her friend by the school entrance. “How are you… Wow, you look terrible.”

“Thanks,” he snorted bitterly.

“Hey,” she said, placing a hand on her friend’s arm to stop him from walking any further. “What happened to you? Are you ok?”

Her brow was creased and she had that concerned look on her face that she reserved for moments in which Simon was being particularly more of an idiot than usual. Seeing her frown, Simon felt a twinge of guilt at making his friend worry.

“I’m ok,” he reassured her. “Just didn’t get much sleep last night. Did you hear my voicemail?”

“No. My phone died while I was working and I forgot to charge it overnight,” she explained. “But why didn’t you get enough sleep?”

Simon sighed and ran a hand through his hair anxiously. His hair, usually noted for being neatly combed and set, was a mess of curls and fly-aways that morning (his mom had _literally_ gasped when she saw him come down for breakfast in that rumpled state).

“See, I might have gotten myself into a bit of a mess,” he began.

“What kind of a mess?” She prompted. While there was slight worry in her eyes, she wasn’t freaking out. She’d known Simon since they were kids and she knew, more than anyone, how much of a good kid he was. Simon in trouble usually didn’t mean much more than a forgotten homework.

“I joined a band,” he said, chuckling incredulously at the end.

“You joined a what?” Lilette stopped walking and turned to her friend as her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“I joined a band, “ Simon repeated. “I’m playing keyboard.”

“Didn’t we just talk about how you were afraid your grades would drop because of theater and now you’re…? Wait, you’re playing keyboard?!” She exclaimed. “You haven’t played in _years_!”

“I _know_ ,” Simon whispered, mortified. “I stayed up late because I was practicing. Lilette, I am not ready for this!”

“Why did you join then?” She asked.

“I don’t know! Why did I join?!” He said, his voice filled with frustration.

“You don’t even know?!” Lilette blurted, face contorted into an expression that could only be described as one of complete confusion and disbelief. “How could you even…?!” Taking a deep breath, she managed to bring her voice back down into a certain level of calmness. “Look, Simon, don’t get me wrong, I would love to see you play in a band. And I think you could do a pretty great job! But I just don’t understand why you would have joined if you don’t feel ready… Anyway, who’s in the band?”

“Uh… as far as I know, there’s Jolene, Maashous, and Jeremy,” Simon said.

“Jeremy from Math?” A smile broke through Lilette’s face. “That’s right, I didn’t tell you! He did help me study yesterday.”

“He did?” Simon asked, surprised.

“Yeah! We met here at around 5pm and, gosh Simon, he was so freaking nice. Like, seriously, the sweetest boy. I vow to protect him for the rest of my life,” Lilette said. “He is literally not allowed to date anyone unless I’ve done an entire background check on her.”

Simon felt a pang of jealousy accompanied by the odd pressure in his chest, just for a second, before disappearing again.

“Yeah, he’s pretty cool,” he said, shrugging. “But I don’t think he’ll appreciate you doing that.”

“He’ll never know,” she said, with a mysterious grin.

Just then, the bell rang, putting their conversation on hold.

“See you later, Simon! Say hi to Jeremy from me if you see him!”

“Yeah… Bye, Lilette!”

Trying to ignore the strange flutter of excitement in his belly, Simon headed to his first class of the day.

**Author's Note:**

> The “stranger”’s performance of Last Week’s Alcohol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Y6NvTuJiw (yes it is Andy Mientus, my entire world).
> 
> I swear the band will happen. Really. I'm just setting everything up.


End file.
